Watching JG1 and beyond - stuff I just haven't bothered to watch and my thoughts.
Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2024 3:35 pm
Ever since I got Deathsaurus came in the mail it's really been bothering me that I bought the guy without really knowing who he is properly. It's all just visuals. TBH, even though I've been a Transformers fan for ages there's a whole lot of Transformers shows I just haven't seen. Like at all.
JG1
JBeast Wars
Car Robots / RID
Unicron Trilogy
Rescue Bots
Go!
Robots in Disguise (2015)
Cyberverse
War for Cybertron Trilogy
BotBots
EarthSpark
That's a lot. A LOT. Let's see how far I get, lol. I kind of want to see at least until the UT. Maybe by the end of that I'll be all Transformered out. When these were on (minus the stuff I just didn't have access to) I just couldn't get into them. I dunno. I like anime. I like Transformers. But, at the time, the two just didn't gel for me. But here I am.
Headmasters
Trash. I mentioned this in another thread, but I'll post my thoughts here too.
This series just can't be bothered with it's legacy characters. Everyone is either reduced to cartoonish buffoons or bland carboard. Optimus Prime is here to do absolutely nothing and then die in vain because Cybertron is destroyed shortly after. You'd think that would bother the TFs. You'd think. But it's never mentioned. In fact they have a base on Athenia.
To underscore the lack of care Rodimus, Kup, and Blur fly off to search for a new home for the Autobots. No, not in Skylynx or a shuttle. No, they fly like Superman! Arcee ... the less said about Arcee the better.
So Scorponok destroys plants to get energy. You'd think that would be his thing since he does it early on. But no. No! Never comes up again after the Autobots stop him from destroying Earth.
Things get better after the Targetmasters are introduced. At episode 27 out of 34. The show has more focus and pacing So if you want to watch the series, just skip here.
I think Sixshot has to be the MVP. By default. The characters don't have much ... character, but he does so he gets the prize. He's so weird. He does these heinous things. Killing Magnus was fair enough, but torturing Jack and then sending out to be a human bomb? But then, shortly after he decides that he "doesn't use his guns on children" and he's this conflicted honorable warrior? And, for some reason, Scorponok tries to kill him?
Anyway, this series is so poorly thought out it's criminal. The Monsterbots were in all of one episode. The Combiners, once MVPs, are now just bigger troops who shoot at each other. I can't say any episodes are really standouts. And this is a series where they do things that could have been truly gutsy! It's gutsy to destroy Cybertorn. It's gutsy to kill longtime characters. But none of it has payoff. Galvatron seemingly dies and returns and you'd think there'd be tension between him and Scorponok, but there's not really anything. They just pass the time being energy pirates in space. Optimus Prime goes unmourned, Cybertron isn't brought up again, Soundwave and Blaster are revived within an episode so we don't have time to miss them. Mars is destroyed! MARS! And, despite it being played up the episode prior, it never gets referenced afterwards.
I get the sense that they suddennly got a lot more episodes and thought "oh ****, what are we gonna do now?" and brought Galvatron so they could just waste time. And it feels like wasted time too. It feels like they made a mistake and backpedaled. There is no playing with the characters. It's disappointing.
Galvatron gets beaten by the Care Bear Stare.
Scorpokok gets beaten by the Care Bear Stare.
Trash.
Masterforce
Masterforce. I think it's best to just pretend it's in it's own little continuity when watching it.
Despite there being an Autobot City (maybe three depending on how you count) nobody seems to remember the Autobots. Chromedome makes a cameo, but that's about it.
The proper Decepticons are monsters most of the time who initially use zombies (of all things) while the Autobots pretend to be human and talk about going on dates. And then there are the proper humans who all get more attention.
The Headmaster Jrs are all pretty likeable. I had Squeezeplay as a kid, so it's nice to see him in context.
Did you know the Firecons are in this show? As disposable fodder in a couple episodes? Such a waste! And, speaking of waste, Pirranacon is a real paper tiger. Ginrai literally tears through the Seacons every episode and hands the guy his ass. I thought this show was supposed to sell us toys! Where is the menace? They could have has 7 unique characters, but we barely get ONE in Turtler. And he mostly just growls angrily as he flees. Geez. They wasted Doubledealer too. Are they unable to plan these things out?
Overlord is cool, though. I like that they give a damn about their minions. I like his rivalry with Ginrai. But the Decepticons lose too much. So he has diminishing returns.
Ginrai steals the show. I do like how all of his play features are gradually built up from cab to Super to God. You get to enjoy them all. But I don't get why he was just handed the reigns outside of meta reasons.
But despite all of this, Masterforce is a pretty fun watch mainly because of it's action. Kinda starts slow, but it gets up there. I just wish the episodes were more inventive. Megatron found new ways to try and kill the Autobots every week! Some episodes were about other things.
Victory
Best one yet. Haven't watched Zone yet. I can see why Star Saber used to be popular. We're back to "let's kick ass". Ginrai kicked ass too, but I dunno. Star Saber has a confidence. A swagger.
It's a pity the roster is so small. And that it doesn't really impress me. At least, on the Autobot side.
Dinoking is great. A team of Season 3 Grimlocks. BUT they kick ass! They're funny goofballs. Only two really have personality, but that's kind of part the course for Combiner teams? And they're actually made to seem threatening in fights! But they never seem to transform into alt mode. Hm. Why couldn't the Seacons be done like this!? It's not like MF has a lot of strong Decepticons.
LioKaiser. Is he the strongest G1 combiner in animation? The cartoon takes it's time to fully develop each member too. And he only loses his edge once we meet Victory Saber. The he ... looses it quite badly. But still! I can now see why people want a version of this guy.
Deathsaurus. Is Megatron, basically. Except with just one plan, so he's a less creative Megatron. But cooler looking. But he has some epic fights with Star Saber and that adds a lot.
Victory is where I think they remembered they had to sell toys. It's a pity there's not much to work with here. Late era G1 ... Victory Saber and Deathsaurus are great, but you don't have that variety of product any more. I never liked Micromasters to start with (may be why the UT just didn't grab me).
Victory was pretty good, as children's shows go. But, like Masterforce and Headmasters, it doesn't get inventive. We do get one episode where the base egts infiltrated and where the Deceticons try to use bugs to kill Star Saber. That's good. But it's all "steal energy, steal energy, steal energy!" Remember when Megatron decided to make New York into a new Cybertron because he didn't think he could get back to Cybertron? Or when the Autobots brainwashed Devestator to be an Autobot?
So, all in all, JG1 (minus Zone) has an increase in quality in terms of storytelling and animation. But it never got truly inventive. I wish it has asked some questions of itself.
Like it would have been good to know how much Ginrai identified himself with the human Ginrai. Have the human make a guest star in one episode maybe? Masterforce ends abruptly so we never know exactly how much the human minds are echoed into their former Transtectors. The Decepticon ones turn on their humans pretty quickly.
We only see Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus once. Deathsaurus only has two combiner teams! The Autobots outnumber him severely! Why aren't these guys on the cast? It's weird we only see Machtacle twice too. Not that the Autobots aren't overstaffed, but still. This is about selling toys, right?
So yeah. Let me know what you guys think about JG1. I head JBW is ... not great.
JG1
JBeast Wars
Car Robots / RID
Unicron Trilogy
Rescue Bots
Go!
Robots in Disguise (2015)
Cyberverse
War for Cybertron Trilogy
BotBots
EarthSpark
That's a lot. A LOT. Let's see how far I get, lol. I kind of want to see at least until the UT. Maybe by the end of that I'll be all Transformered out. When these were on (minus the stuff I just didn't have access to) I just couldn't get into them. I dunno. I like anime. I like Transformers. But, at the time, the two just didn't gel for me. But here I am.
Headmasters
Trash. I mentioned this in another thread, but I'll post my thoughts here too.
This series just can't be bothered with it's legacy characters. Everyone is either reduced to cartoonish buffoons or bland carboard. Optimus Prime is here to do absolutely nothing and then die in vain because Cybertron is destroyed shortly after. You'd think that would bother the TFs. You'd think. But it's never mentioned. In fact they have a base on Athenia.
To underscore the lack of care Rodimus, Kup, and Blur fly off to search for a new home for the Autobots. No, not in Skylynx or a shuttle. No, they fly like Superman! Arcee ... the less said about Arcee the better.
So Scorponok destroys plants to get energy. You'd think that would be his thing since he does it early on. But no. No! Never comes up again after the Autobots stop him from destroying Earth.
Things get better after the Targetmasters are introduced. At episode 27 out of 34. The show has more focus and pacing So if you want to watch the series, just skip here.
I think Sixshot has to be the MVP. By default. The characters don't have much ... character, but he does so he gets the prize. He's so weird. He does these heinous things. Killing Magnus was fair enough, but torturing Jack and then sending out to be a human bomb? But then, shortly after he decides that he "doesn't use his guns on children" and he's this conflicted honorable warrior? And, for some reason, Scorponok tries to kill him?
Anyway, this series is so poorly thought out it's criminal. The Monsterbots were in all of one episode. The Combiners, once MVPs, are now just bigger troops who shoot at each other. I can't say any episodes are really standouts. And this is a series where they do things that could have been truly gutsy! It's gutsy to destroy Cybertorn. It's gutsy to kill longtime characters. But none of it has payoff. Galvatron seemingly dies and returns and you'd think there'd be tension between him and Scorponok, but there's not really anything. They just pass the time being energy pirates in space. Optimus Prime goes unmourned, Cybertron isn't brought up again, Soundwave and Blaster are revived within an episode so we don't have time to miss them. Mars is destroyed! MARS! And, despite it being played up the episode prior, it never gets referenced afterwards.
I get the sense that they suddennly got a lot more episodes and thought "oh ****, what are we gonna do now?" and brought Galvatron so they could just waste time. And it feels like wasted time too. It feels like they made a mistake and backpedaled. There is no playing with the characters. It's disappointing.
Galvatron gets beaten by the Care Bear Stare.
Scorpokok gets beaten by the Care Bear Stare.
Trash.
Masterforce
Masterforce. I think it's best to just pretend it's in it's own little continuity when watching it.
Despite there being an Autobot City (maybe three depending on how you count) nobody seems to remember the Autobots. Chromedome makes a cameo, but that's about it.
The proper Decepticons are monsters most of the time who initially use zombies (of all things) while the Autobots pretend to be human and talk about going on dates. And then there are the proper humans who all get more attention.
The Headmaster Jrs are all pretty likeable. I had Squeezeplay as a kid, so it's nice to see him in context.
Did you know the Firecons are in this show? As disposable fodder in a couple episodes? Such a waste! And, speaking of waste, Pirranacon is a real paper tiger. Ginrai literally tears through the Seacons every episode and hands the guy his ass. I thought this show was supposed to sell us toys! Where is the menace? They could have has 7 unique characters, but we barely get ONE in Turtler. And he mostly just growls angrily as he flees. Geez. They wasted Doubledealer too. Are they unable to plan these things out?
Overlord is cool, though. I like that they give a damn about their minions. I like his rivalry with Ginrai. But the Decepticons lose too much. So he has diminishing returns.
Ginrai steals the show. I do like how all of his play features are gradually built up from cab to Super to God. You get to enjoy them all. But I don't get why he was just handed the reigns outside of meta reasons.
But despite all of this, Masterforce is a pretty fun watch mainly because of it's action. Kinda starts slow, but it gets up there. I just wish the episodes were more inventive. Megatron found new ways to try and kill the Autobots every week! Some episodes were about other things.
Victory
Best one yet. Haven't watched Zone yet. I can see why Star Saber used to be popular. We're back to "let's kick ass". Ginrai kicked ass too, but I dunno. Star Saber has a confidence. A swagger.
It's a pity the roster is so small. And that it doesn't really impress me. At least, on the Autobot side.
Dinoking is great. A team of Season 3 Grimlocks. BUT they kick ass! They're funny goofballs. Only two really have personality, but that's kind of part the course for Combiner teams? And they're actually made to seem threatening in fights! But they never seem to transform into alt mode. Hm. Why couldn't the Seacons be done like this!? It's not like MF has a lot of strong Decepticons.
LioKaiser. Is he the strongest G1 combiner in animation? The cartoon takes it's time to fully develop each member too. And he only loses his edge once we meet Victory Saber. The he ... looses it quite badly. But still! I can now see why people want a version of this guy.
Deathsaurus. Is Megatron, basically. Except with just one plan, so he's a less creative Megatron. But cooler looking. But he has some epic fights with Star Saber and that adds a lot.
Victory is where I think they remembered they had to sell toys. It's a pity there's not much to work with here. Late era G1 ... Victory Saber and Deathsaurus are great, but you don't have that variety of product any more. I never liked Micromasters to start with (may be why the UT just didn't grab me).
Victory was pretty good, as children's shows go. But, like Masterforce and Headmasters, it doesn't get inventive. We do get one episode where the base egts infiltrated and where the Deceticons try to use bugs to kill Star Saber. That's good. But it's all "steal energy, steal energy, steal energy!" Remember when Megatron decided to make New York into a new Cybertron because he didn't think he could get back to Cybertron? Or when the Autobots brainwashed Devestator to be an Autobot?
So, all in all, JG1 (minus Zone) has an increase in quality in terms of storytelling and animation. But it never got truly inventive. I wish it has asked some questions of itself.
Like it would have been good to know how much Ginrai identified himself with the human Ginrai. Have the human make a guest star in one episode maybe? Masterforce ends abruptly so we never know exactly how much the human minds are echoed into their former Transtectors. The Decepticon ones turn on their humans pretty quickly.
We only see Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus once. Deathsaurus only has two combiner teams! The Autobots outnumber him severely! Why aren't these guys on the cast? It's weird we only see Machtacle twice too. Not that the Autobots aren't overstaffed, but still. This is about selling toys, right?
So yeah. Let me know what you guys think about JG1. I head JBW is ... not great.